F. B. Hole
No. 4. — The Test Case
The consideration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus as being the demonstration of God’s victory, naturally leads to another aspect of the same great truth, very closely connected therewith. What, it may well be asked, is the bearing of this victory? Is anything involved in it beyond the display of His supreme power and the personal vindication of the Lord Jesus?
That it was the personal vindication of Jesus is evident from Acts 2 His resurrection was the great theme of Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost and the conviction was borne irresistibly in upon three thousand men that God had intervened in the great controversy between the leaders of Israel and Jesus — between the builders and the Stone which they rejected — and the decision of Heaven’s final court of appeal was in favor of Jesus. He was triumphantly vindicated. “The Stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner” (Luke 20:1717And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? (Luke 20:17)).
Everyone who loves our Lord Jesus Christ must greatly rejoice at this thought; yet we must not overlook the fact that there was involved in His resurrection much more even than this. It was the great test case upon which infinite and eternal issues hung.
Occasionally the Law Courts witness a great fight over a seemingly trivial matter. There is a great array of legal talent on both sides, many witnesses are called, much money is expended, a large amount of valuable time consumed, and court and spectators alike treated to brilliant displays of oratory, wit, and legal acumen, and all over what to the uninitiated appears so small that they are inclined to turn away saying, “much ado about nothing”!
But it is not so; they are mistaken, all this effort is quite justified by the importance of the occasion. The case under trial, though nothing great in itself is a representative one. There are many other cases like it in their underlying principle, and this one has been selected as a test case. The decision given, whichever way it is, will establish principles and interpretations of law which will instantly bear in scores of different directions. Possibly hundreds or even thousands of cases are really being tried and decided in this one, and this fact instantly raises it right out of the common rut and invests it with great importance.
Scripture plainly indicates that the resurrection of Jesus had this character. Not that it was an insignificant thing in itself — there our illustration fails of course. No event ever had more importance in itself, and yet its importance is enhanced by the fact of its being the great test case of the ages by which everything — ourselves included — must stand or fall. In Ephesians 1:17-2317That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:17‑23), we get recorded one of those wonderful prayers which were continually ascending to God from the heart of the great apostle Paul. He prayed: —
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding [or heart, R.V.] being enlightened; that ye may know... what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.”
Here clearly resurrection comes before us in this light: His resurrection is the test case, and we learn the greatness of God’s power toward us according to that. Small wonder therefore that the apostle uses the forcible language he does. God’s power towards us — His people — is exceeding (or surpassing) great because measured according to the working of the might of His power (margin) which He wrought in Christ.
All this is surely intended by the Spirit to convey to our minds that God’s power in a surpassing and wholly extraordinary degree was exerted in the raising of Jesus. No such strong expressions are used when it is a question of raising the millions who shall share the bliss of the first resurrection, for the reason, doubtless, that that is a simple matter uncomplicated by all those tremendous questions of sin, death and Satan’s power, which were in evidence in the case of Jesus. Then it was that the real battle was fought; then that every adverse power, whether human or Satanic, rose to its highest expression, and combined in one last effort to hold the Savior in the dominion of death; then that the might of God’s power rose up, flung back every assault, confounded the full power of the enemy, and raised Him from the dead, and up until, seated at His own right hand, He is above, and not only above, but “far above all principality and power” (ver. 21).
Majestic language, this The Spirit of God is evidently rejoicing in the triumphant ending of the great test case. And our little cases are settled in His great one. Hence chapter 2 begins “And you.” Pick up the thread of the argument, and it runs thus: “The working of the might of His power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.... And you... who were dead in trespasses and sins.” In Christ, the controversy was settled, and when the power of God is displayed in us it works in exact keeping therewith; we are quickened, and raised up and seated in heavenly places in Him (chapter 2, vers. 5, 6). But further, His resurrection not only has its bearing upon us in this spiritual way now, but it is also the certain pledge of the actual resurrection of all that are His at His coming. This is plainly indicated in these words: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept,... Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:20-2320But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. (1 Corinthians 15:20‑23)).
Death can, in the long run, no more retain its hold upon us than it could upon Him. Once see this clearly, and the well-worn phrase “In sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection” — so often quoted by the gravesides of believers — becomes illuminated with a fuller meaning than ever. Our hope is sure and certain, not only because we have God’s Word for it (though that were sufficient) but we have in the risen Christ the ever abiding pledge of it for our souls. It was with this before him that Paul could say “Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you” (2 Cor. 4:1414Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. (2 Corinthians 4:14)).
To raise us up only a word is needed, — one word of power.
This too it was, that made the Sadducees such bitter opponents of the apostles as recorded in the Acts. The Pharisees were the great adversaries during the lifetime of the Lord Jesus, for being Himself the truth He exposed at every step their hypocrisy; but immediately He was gone and the apostolic testimony to His resurrection became the prominent thing, we find the Sadducees springing into activity.
The priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus [in Jesus, R.V.] the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:11And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, (Acts 4:1) and 2).
These ardent advocates of “no resurrection” theories were keenly alive to the fact that the resurrection of Jesus was destructive of their whole position. Had it been a mere isolated or accidental event they might have passed it by in silence, or even claimed it as the exception which proved the rule of no resurrection, but it was not so. “In Jesus” the resurrection from the dead was in principle established, hence they left no stone unturned in their efforts to silence the preachers and crush their testimony.
Thank God! that testimony was not crushed, and never will be. Who can rightly estimate its practical value in ministering comfort and vigor to the souls of believers? Listen to Peter when he says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively [living A.V] hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3)).
We can perhaps but faintly understand the desolation which must have swept into the hearts of those who loved the Lord Jesus Christ when they saw Him die. Not only did it outrage their personal affections for Him, but at one blow it destroyed all their hopes which centered in Him as their heaven-sent Messiah. We may gain some idea of it by considering the two disciples going to Emmaus (Luke 24) and marking their spirit and demeanor. Hope in their hearts was dead.
But the Risen One revealed Himself to them. What a change! They were “begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” It was as though they were born into a new world where new hopes reigned, and those hopes living, because all centered in the living One, who in resurrection life would never die again. Well might praise and blessing ascend from the apostle’s heart to God.
Good it is for our souls if we have had an experience after this sort and learned to center our hopes and expectations in the Risen One. It was just when everything was, to all appearance, lost, that the day was really won, and it remains for us who through grace believe, to quietly watch and wait till the power that fully expressed itself in the great test case shall exert itself toward us, lifting us out of the reach of death and the grave forever, and crowning our hopes with the glory of God.
True Humility
It is better to be thinking of what God is, than of what we are. This looking at ourselves, at the bottom, is really pride — a want of the thorough consciousness that we are good for nothing. Till we see this, we never look quite away from self to God.
Sometimes, perhaps, the looking at our evil, may be a partial instrument in teaching us it; but still, even then, that is not all that is needed. In looking to Christ, it is our privilege to forget ourselves.
True humility does not so much consist in thinking badly of ourselves, as in not thinking of ourselves at all.
I am too bad to be worth thinking about: what I want is to forget myself, and to look to God, who is indeed worthy of all my thought. Is there need of being humbled about ourselves, we may be quite sure that will do it.
If we can say, (as in Rom. 7) that “in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing,” we have thought quite long enough about ourselves; let us think about Him who thought about us with “thoughts of good and not of evil” long before we thought about ourselves at all. Let us see what His thoughts of grace about us are, and take up the words of faith, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”